About Me

Manu Sharma New Delhi / Gurgaon, India

Since mid 2006 I have grappled with climate change and what it means for us. As an activist and campaigner, I sought to learn and simultaneously, attempted to influence the issues surrounding it - in technology and policy advocacy. As a consultant, I studied markets and created portfolios in sustainability services and renewable energy investment.

After thousands of hours of research, tenacious activism, working up-close with NGOs as well as the industry, delivering about two dozen public talks, countless conferences, hundreds of online discussions, a few media appearances (including Reuters, News Television, and BBC radio), and continuous evolution of my own ideas about what ought to be done - I may have found some answers but the issue remains far from being addressed.

In the despair filled world of climate change the only place I've found real and lasting hope is in a beautiful vision inspired by "The Ringing Cedars of Russia" book series by Vladimir Megre. The books have triggered a transition movement in Russia and have profoundly influenced me. I am now working towards the vision.

Climate Revolution Initiative, an RTI campaign I founded and ran for a few years is now retired. I no longer deliver talks. I still consider myself an activist though and occasionally post on Green-India group started over nine years ago.

Older entries in this blog relate to my former occupation in user experience design; long time interest in business innovation, strategy, ethics; and venture creation.

Image on top of this bar is courtesy book covers of The Ringing Cedars series published under Croatian translation. (Source)

January 05, 2004

Guru's Guru on Innovation

Harvard Business Review’s December issue has a feature on management thinkers that influenced today’s top management gurus.

“We asked 200 management gurus – the business thinkers most often mentioned in the media and management literature – who their gurus were, and we received more than 60 responses. The “gurus’ gurus” who received at least two mentions are listed here[1].”

At #1 is Management theorist Peter Drucker. I've just finished reading his treatise on “Innovation and Entrepreneurship: practice and principles”. Although I haven’t read most of the other [47] thinkers, I can vouch for the excellence of thought that Drucker has put in the book, way ahead of similar titles that bookshops today are awash with. Drucker wrote the book back in 1985.

The most remarkable part of the text are the chapters detailing the sources of innovation. In my opinion, this is one of the three critical steps in the process that leads to innovation. One is hiring the right people – those that are most likely to accept change. Second is identifying the opportunity to innovate, which Drucker handles so well in th ebook. And third is leading the innovating enterprise[2].

Fast Company is running a cover story this month on “Apple and the limits of innovation”. I didn't like the way they came down on Apple, and the notion of innovation in the first half of the of the long article[3]. But overall, I agree with the conclusions that “business-model innovation” [or innovation in strategy] is much more profitable than “technical innovation” [or design innovation], the kind that Apple specializes in.

The importance of strategy over design is something -- and I say this with due respect -- that most user experience professionals are entirely clueless about. Hurst, the only person that seems to get the business side of design, still believes that ease of use is the most critical element[4].

Drucker however doesn’t differentiate between the two kinds of innovation. Almost all his examples are from business strategy but the sources that he described are equally applicable for design innovation. I found several threads that can help us identify opportunities for innovation in design.

4. In the latest Good Experience Newsletter, while referring to ease of use, he said, “in my book, [it] is the single most important advancement any digital technology can make”. The single most important factor is the value the technology provides - the critical problem that it solves. Ease of use is important as it enhances that value but it’s not the end in itself.